Eating habits

“One out of three dollars spent on health care, by some recent estimates, is paying for damage from bad eating habits.”

So says Barbara Kingsolver in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

In these days of fast and ‘convenience’ foods (often highly processed and sugared), it seems easier to develop bad eating habits than good ones, even though we have access to plenty and varied whole foods. And once these bad habits are formed, it is difficult to change. I’ve recently listened to two books that inform on healthy food choices, and am motivated to make some changes in purchasing and preparing food. At our house we’re eating more whole grains, and fruits and vegetables, and I’m even thinking that organically grown (better yet locally grown) produce is worth the price, but big changes for me have been rather meager and slow. Still, I’m determined to keep at it.

One more number that has impacted me:

On a typical American plate, each food item has been transported, on average, 1500 miles.

[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is about the author’s family experiment to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.
For more about the book, see http://www.kingsolver.com/bookshelf/miracle.asp]

So, more local and home-grown for me please, at least for these temperate days when it's so readily available!